


Rose-coloured boy

by merihn



Series: I wish we were all rose-coloured too [1]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Caleb doesn't exist, F/M, M/M, Multi, brief mention of past Alex/Luke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:40:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27147478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merihn/pseuds/merihn
Summary: Julie loves Luke and Luke loves Julie, everyone knows that. Except no one thought about where Reggie fits into all of that, and it turns out, he's kind of important.
Relationships: Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson/Reggie, Julie Molina/Reggie
Series: I wish we were all rose-coloured too [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1998832
Comments: 71
Kudos: 394





	Rose-coloured boy

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to [Noxnoctisanima](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noxnoctisanima/pseuds/Noxnoctisanima) for reading this multiple times and writing part of a scene that I desperately wanted to handwave. She also gets a gold star for writing the summary. ♥
> 
> Title from Rose-Coloured Boy by Paramore, which was basically the inspiration for the whole fic, because of Reggie's pink cheeks.

Julie wandered through the house, the sound of Reggie's endless chatter drawing her into the lounge room. Reggie was sitting on the back of the couch behind her dad, watching him as he watched the television. She smiled fondly as she looked at them, then Reggie caught sight of her and his face lit up.

“Julie! I can’t believe The Bold and the Beautiful is still going. Ray really seems to like it, he watches it every day.”

Julie waved at him, then said, “Hey, dad, what are you watching?” Ray fumbled for the remote and switched the channel as she walked up behind him. 

“Just the… news,” Ray replied, clearly trying to look invested. 

She smiled fondly as Reggie scoffed. “I wonder how many little lies like this my parents told me when I was growing up.” The bittersweet tone of his voice made her pause. 

“Really?” Julie said. “Interesting.”

“What makes you say that?” Ray looked up at her, a tiny frown furrowing his brow.

“Nothing,” she said innocently, as Reggie bounced on the back of the couch beside her, laughing. 

“He does stuff like this all the time. I could tell you so many things… but I won’t.”

“How was your day, _mija_?”

“Oh, you know. It was school.”

Reggie made a face. “Come on Julie, he really wants to know. I know what it looks like when parents don’t really care about what you did all day.”

Julie put her hand on the couch next to Reggie’s and smiled at him, wishing she could give him a hug. Then she rounded the couch and sat down next to her father, adjusting her position so her shoulder was next to Reggie’s knee, but not so close he’d phase through. Reggie stopped bouncing his leg as she settled, holding himself still next to her. Her fingers itched to curl around the thin white skin of his ankle, so she twisted her fingers together instead.

Julie told her dad all about her day, and watched his face turn from surprise to happiness as she elaborated on the boring details of high school. Reggie made little comments and asked questions that kept her talking for much longer than she’d intended to.

“I need to go and do some homework. Thanks for listening, dad.” She leaned over, carefully avoiding Reggie’s legs and hugged him. He squeezed her back, pressing a kiss into her hair. 

“Any time, _mija_ ,” Ray said softly, letting her stand. She smiled again and headed up to her room. Reggie popped in as she reached the top of the stairs. 

“I think he really liked that. You should have seen his smile when you left the room.”

“Yeah, I guess sometimes I forget that he doesn’t know everything and he actually wants to hear about it, even the boring stuff.”

“Well, I’ll just have to remind you.” Reggie smiled. 

“Wanna hang out while I do my homework? Do you know anything about the American Revolution?”

“Um… not really, history was always a bit _historical_ for me, but I’ll keep you company.” Reggie followed her into her room and sprawled out on her bed. “Your bed is so comfortable.” He started spreading his arms like he was making snow angels. 

Julie laughed and pulled her books out of her bag, shooing him over so she could sit. Reggie curled up beside her and watched as she started reading.

When Julie looked up a while later, Reggie was flat on his back beside her, mouth open as he slept. Or whatever ghosts did when it looked like they were sleeping. She smiled fondly as he muttered something inaudible and his fingers twitched like he was reaching for something.

***

Julie often found Reggie hanging out with her dad whenever he was home. Now, as he made dinner, Reggie was sitting on the counter, chattering to Ray about all the little things he missed since he’d become a ghost. Julie leaned on the bannister of the staircase, watching Reggie use his hands to sketch out the shape of a burger. She couldn’t help but smile as Reggie extolled the virtues of the burger, and described all the things he’d put on it if he could.

She walked into the room as Reggie closed his eyes, clearly thinking about how good the burger would taste when he bit into it, his hands still holding the shape of the imaginary food. 

“Hey, dad, what’s for dinner?” She flicked a smile at Reggie and he grinned back.

“Hey, _mija_. I’m making burgers.” Well, that explained Reggie’s obsession. 

“Mmm, sounds good. Want some help?”

“Sure.”

They worked in silence, and Julie tried not to laugh as Reggie followed their every move, moaning about how badly he wanted to join them for dinner, encouraging her to add his favourite ingredients. 

“I know this sounds weird, but… can I watch you eat it?” Reggie pleaded, eyes wide. It did seem weird, but Julie was powerless against his hopeful eyes, and nodded. He did a little victory dance, whooping. She bit back a laugh and shook her head slightly.

“What are you thinking about?” Ray asked. Julie startled, dropping the knife she was holding. Reggie laughed. 

“Oh, nothing much.”

Ray smiled. “Not a boy, by any chance?”

“Ooh,” Reggie chimed in. “Thinking about Luke, were you?” She cut him a stern look.

She looked back at her dad, wondering how he came to that conclusion. “What - why?”

“I know that look. I remember when Flynn let it slip that you liked that Nick kid from your school. You were mooning around with that look on your face for weeks.” Ray’s voice was teasing. Reggie couldn’t seem to stop giggling and Julie couldn’t handle anything about this conversation.

“Dad,” she complained. 

“Alright, you don’t have to tell me anything.” He put his hands up. “Go and get your brother, this’ll be ready in no time.”

Julie escaped gratefully, wondering if her face really had been doing the same thing it did when she was crushing on Nick. But she’d only been reacting to Reggie, so it couldn’t have been.

***

Reggie was lying next to her in what had become an almost nightly ritual as she did her homework or worked on songs, when a knock on her door broke her concentration.

“Yeah?” She called. 

Luke stepped through the closed door. “Hey, Julie -” Luke stopped abruptly, staring at them. “So I guess your ‘boundaries’ don’t extend to Reggie anymore.” 

She laughed. “Hey, I just don’t want you guys in my room while I’m not here, going through my _stuff_.”

Luke pouted and that rush she always felt when he was around crashed over her, speeding up her heart and making her mouth go weirdly dry. He was just so good looking, with his stupidly big and expressive eyes, his floppy hair and those ridiculous arms that he refused to cover. She wished she could smack the thoughts out of her own head.

“Besides, he’s just keeping me company while I study,” she continued, trying to ignore how his eyes made her feel guilty.

“Well, I could do that, too,” Luke muttered.

“You’d just end up distracting me and making me write songs with you, so no, you couldn’t.”

“I’ll just -” Reggie moved to get off her bed, and Julie grabbed at him, forgetting that she couldn’t touch him. Her fingers passed right through his wrist and she felt the same twist in her gut she always felt when she was reminded that they weren’t real, weren’t solid.

“No, stay. I like having you here,” she said a little desperately.

Reggie suddenly looked a little shy. “Oh, okay.”

She caught sight of Luke’s face just before he teleported away, brows drawn together, mouth twisted.

“That was weird,” she said, looking back to Reggie. 

“He doesn’t like feeling left out. And, well, I guess I probably shouldn’t say anything but…”

“But what?”

“Well, you know he likes you, right? I mean, me and Alex tease him about it all the time.”

“No he doesn’t,” Julie scoffed, trying and failing to pretend her heart didn’t immediately start racing at the thought.

Reggie laughed and ruffled her hair. “Oh, come on. Everyone can see how you two look at each other when we perform.”

“Is it really that obvious?” She looked down, twisting her pen in her fingers. 

“Duh.”

“But it’s weird, right? I mean, you guys are ghosts. It’s ridiculous to have a crush on a ghost.”

Reggie smiled softly. “Yeah, Luke’ll do that to you.”

Julie felt her eyebrows rise. Reggie’s eyes widened and he spluttered for a moment before poofing out. Julie’s hand missed him by an inch, even though she couldn’t have stopped him by touching him anyway. She leaned back against her pillows and blinked slowly up at her ceiling. She would have just assumed she’d misunderstood him if he hadn’t left so abruptly, but his sudden departure said far more than his words had. She wished she could teleport too, and find Reggie so she could talk to him about it. But she didn’t know where he might go, even if she could.

***

It was irritating how easily the boys could avoid her whenever they wanted, but she had no way to even that playing field. Julie sighed in frustration as she caught the flurry of movement that preceded Reggie escaping as she walked into her house, her father sitting at the counter messing around on his laptop.

“You ok?” Ray turned to look at her.

“Yeah, just school stuff. I’m gonna go play some music.” With any luck she’d catch Reggie in the garage. 

“Ok. You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” Ray’s face was the picture of concern.

She thought about what she would tell him, and how it would sound if she did. _Oh, dad, I’m just falling for the ghost of a guy who died 25 years ago and I just found out that his best friend apparently feels the same way about him. Oh, and you know my band, the ones that are meant to be holograms? Yeah, they’re all ghosts._

She shook her head slightly. “Yeah, dad, I know.” She hugged him tightly for a moment, then made her way down to the garage. 

She could hear voices inside, the door slightly ajar. It sounded like Reggie and Alex, and she tried to slip in quietly so she could catch Reggie before he saw her and could escape again. Instead she knocked her shoulder against the door and Reggie looked at her, startled.

“Reggie, wait!” She cried, but he was already gone. 

“What was that about?” Alex asked. Julie sighed. 

“I think I got myself into the middle of something.” 

Alex pressed his lips together and just looked at her. She sighed again.

“I just. I’ve been so wrapped up in my own feelings and problems… But I... I don’t know if I should say anything.”

“Oh. You mean Reggie’s giant crush on Luke?”

Julie gaped at him. “You know about that?” Alex just looked at her. “Of course you do.” She slumped over to the couch and dropped onto it heavily. “I had no idea. But Reggie’s been hanging out with me a lot lately, in my room while I’ve been studying and Luke found us last night and got a bit weird and Reggie…” 

Alex nodded. “Yeah, it’s been obvious for a while now, I mean, even before we died.”

Julie groaned, covering her face with her hands. “I kind of wish you’d told me before I…” _started falling for Luke_. “...messed everything up.”

“You haven’t messed anything up, Julie,” Alex sat down next to her. “I don’t think Reggie was ever going to say anything or make a move. And then you came along and I know he wouldn’t want to get in between you and Luke.”

“Even so. I…”

“You couldn’t have known. It wasn’t like you did it deliberately.”

“Reggie didn’t even mean to say anything and then he just left before _I_ could say anything. Now he’s avoiding me. How can I fix this when he won’t even stay in the same room as me for more than a few moments?” She found herself twisting her fingers in the hem of her sweater. 

“Just give him some time. I think he’ll come to you when he’s ready.” Alex rocked toward her as if to bump their shoulders together, stopping before he could phase through her. “I think he’s scared of what you might say.”

“About him liking Luke? I just want him to know that I wish I’d known before any of this happened. And… uh…” she trailed off, not knowing how to put into words the weird thing that had happened in the kitchen last week.

Alex watched her curiously, waiting for her to continue. Was there even anything to say about that? It was just an odd moment, right?

She shook her head sharply. “It’s nothing. Anyway, I hope he stops avoiding me soon. It’s going to be weird studying without him now.”

Alex didn’t say anything, just sat with her until she jumped up.

“Let’s play something. I can’t just sit around.” 

Alex followed her over to their instruments and settled behind his drum kit. Julie sat at her keyboard and just let her fingers wander, Alex joining her when he got a feel for the melody. It was strange to have just the drums alongside the keyboard, but she found she liked the simple sound. She found herself playing Wake Up, and started singing, Alex’s voice harmonising with hers.

“Wow. That sounded amazing, guys.” Julie looked up as the last chords faded away to see Luke standing just inside the doors.

“Luke!” she exclaimed. _Wow, way to play it cool_ , she thought. Who was she kidding, it wasn’t like they didn’t all know about her embarrassingly obvious little crush anyway. 

"We were just waiting for you guys to come back." Alex said casually. "Julie had a bad day at school and wanted to blow off some steam. Come join us."

"Ok." Luke wandered in and picked up his guitar. "Where's Reggie?"

"He just left, didn't say where he was going," Alex said before Julie could say anything. 

"In a mood, was he?" 

"Something like that." 

Julie wanted to just talk to Luke about everything, but without Reggie there, it felt wrong to say anything at all. It wasn't her place to speak for Reggie, so it was better to say nothing until she spoke to him. That was clearly what Alex thought, too. 

They jumped straight into Edge of Great, and Julie keenly missed the steady baseline, and Reggie's exuberant presence.

***

Reggie returned when they'd given up on playing and were just sitting around talking. He slunk in, still avoiding Julie's gaze, and she ached to touch him, to force him to look at her and listen to her. He perched on the arm of the chair Alex was in, and Alex rubbed his back slowly until he relaxed.

Luke looked at him curiously, but didn't say anything, clearly taking his cues from Alex. 

"Ok, well I'd better go to dinner. Then I have heaps of homework so I'll talk to you guys tomorrow." She stood reluctantly, trying and failing to not look at Reggie. She caught his eye for a moment and tried to communicate everything she felt, but he looked away quickly and she didn't think it had worked. She walked slowly up to the house, wishing they could just go back to the night before when everything was fine. But it wasn't, not really.

***

After dinner she dragged herself up to her room, not even remotely in the mood to study. To her surprise Reggie was sitting tentatively on the edge of her bed.

"Hey," she said cautiously. 

"Hey." Reggie chewed on his lip and avoided her eyes. Julie wasn’t sure how to say everything she was feeling, and she was terrified of getting it wrong. She fidgeted with the sleeves of her sweater and tried to control her breathing.

“I-” She started, but Reggie spoke at the same time.

“I’m not going to say anything to Luke, you know? It’s just a silly crush. I’d never get in the way of you and him.” His words tumbled over each other, too fast. 

“Alex said pretty much the same thing.”

“What - you talked to Alex?”

“He already knew that you like Luke. I didn’t tell him, I promise. I think maybe you’re a little bit more obvious than you think you are. Not that I noticed anything because I’m far too self involved, obviously.” 

Reggie chuckled a little and chewed at his lip again. 

“But I think you should… you know, say something. You liked him first, and I’m not interested in getting in the way either.”

“Come on, Julie, it’s obvious that he likes you as much as you like him. I don’t - I’m not going to ruin our friendship because I can’t seem to control my feelings.”

“Why would it ruin your friendship?”

Reggie looked at her. It was so similar to the way Alex looked at her the night before that it startled a laugh out of her. “Sorry, that was the exact look Alex gave me when I talked to him about this last night.”

“Right, when he told you what a complete idiot I am.”

“What? He doesn’t think you’re an idiot.”

“Yeah, right.” He grimaced.

Julie frowned. “Is that really what you think? Alex loves you, Reggie. I know he likes to tease you but it’s obvious that he’s only joking. Is that why you think it would ruin your friendship if you told Luke how you feel, because you don’t think he takes you seriously?”

Reggie looked down at his hands and didn’t say anything, and Julie’s heart ached. She sat down next to him and tried to stay calm, even though all she wanted to do was hold him close and make him realise how important he was to all of them. 

“I wish I could hug you right now,” she said simply. Reggie glanced at her and back down at his hands. “Oh, Reggie, if only you could see yourself the way I see you, and see the way Alex and Luke look at you.” She realised she didn’t know much at all about his life before he died, but she had a feeling that there was something there that would shed light on Reggie’s inability to recognise how much his friends cared for him. She remembered the little comments about parents and their lack of caring. She put her hand next to his on her bed, palm up. 

“I know they love you, because even though I haven’t known you that long, I love you too.”

Reggie’s head shot up and he stared at her in astonishment. She smiled sadly at his shock and looked down at her hand, wiggling her fingers. Reggie lifted his hand and let it hover over hers. If she closed her eyes, she could almost feel him. 

She started as fingers brushed her cheek, tucking her hair behind her ear. She opened her eyes and stared at Reggie, his face mirroring the utter bewilderment she felt. 

“Wh- how are you touching me?” She reached up to grab his hand, holding it between her own. His skin was warm against hers, despite what she had expected, and she could feel the callouses from his bass playing on the tips of his fingers. 

“I don’t… I don’t know.” Reggie stuttered, curling his fingers around Julie’s hand. Suddenly she let out a whoop and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Reggie hugged her back tightly, his arms stronger than she’d expected, and the heat of him wrapped around her.

“I can’t believe this,” she mumbled into his neck, still clinging to him.

“Me neither.”

She pulled back so she could see his face and beamed at him, overwhelmed with her love for him, and before she could stop herself she leaned in and kissed him. After a long moment he kissed her back, his hand coming up to cradle her head. It was soft and sweet, just a dry press of lips, but she felt it right down to her toes.

“Uh…” Reggie said articulately, staring at her when they parted. She could feel herself blushing.

“Um.” 

They stared at each other for a moment, and Julie half expected Reggie to disappear. She tightened her grip on his neck subconsciously and took a deep breath. 

“So… you know what my dad said in the kitchen the other day? When you thought I was thinking about Luke? I... wasn’t. I was thinking about you.”

“Oh.” 

She could barely hear him over the pounding of her heart. What was she doing? She could feel herself panicking, then Reggie cupped her cheek, his fingers soft and warm, stroking her skin. 

“So, uh. What does that mean?” He asked. She forced herself to look at him, into his wide green eyes.

“I don’t know. I know we were just talking about Luke and that whole situation but I like you too, Reggie. I didn’t really know how much until right now.”

Reggie blushed, pink streaks running jagged down his cheeks. 

“What do we do now?” 

She pulled back and grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together. “I don’t know. I wasn't expecting anything like this.”

“Yeah, no kidding. We have to tell the guys about this, though.”

“We can’t!”

“I didn’t mean the… the kiss. I meant that we can touch.”

“Oh, right.” She took a deep breath. “I mean, I’m not embarrassed or anything. We just need to work out what to say to Luke first.”

Reggie smiled and she wanted to kiss him again, so she did, pressing her mouth firmly to his. He kissed her back eagerly, drawing her in closer. 

“Ok,” she said when she caught her breath, pressing her forehead to his. She felt dazed and out of it, a little punch-drunk on the feeling of his mouth. “Maybe we should go and talk to Luke and Alex now.”

“Yeah, probably.” Reggie skimmed his fingers over her cheek again, smoothing her hair back behind her ear. She shivered as his fingers grazed the shell of her ear and turned her head to press a kiss to his knuckles. She made herself stand, and pulled him up, still holding his hand.

“I’ll meet you down there. I just need a minute.” Reggie pulled his hand from hers and smiled, cheeks pink again.

She stood in her room for a moment, letting herself calm down with counted breaths until she was ready to see what the other boys would think about her and Reggie touching. 

“I thought you were studying,” Ray said as she headed out the door. 

“Oh, yeah, I just forgot something in the garage.” She didn’t like lying to her father but this was more important than studying right now. It wasn’t like she would be able to concentrate on studying until they’d sorted this out, anyway.

Reggie was waiting outside the garage when she made it down the steps.

“I thought maybe we could go in holding hands and see how long it takes them to figure it out,” Reggie said, a mischievous glint in his eyes. She giggled and held out her hand, and Reggie took it, rubbing his thumb over her skin. 

They walked in together and when Luke looked over, the smile on his face fell away, and Julie suddenly realised what it looked like to him, after he’d found Reggie in her room, on her bed, and now she was holding hands with him. Before either of them could say anything, he disappeared.

“Oh my god, can you idiots stop doing that!” She yelled, stamping her foot. Alex stared at her in shock. He looked down at their joined hands, then back at her face. 

“What the hell? I told you to fix things with Reggie, not whatever this is!”

Reggie dropped her hand and twisted his fingers together, head down.

Julie growled in frustration. “Didn’t you even notice that we were touching? Like, actually touching?” 

“What - oh. What the hell is going on?”

“Yeah. That’s what we came to talk to you guys about, until Luke got the wrong idea and just left.” Well, not entirely the wrong idea, but Julie didn’t want to get into that just yet. “Can you try to find Luke and tell him it wasn’t what it looked like?”

Alex stared at her for a moment longer, then teleported away. 

“Well, that might have been my worst idea yet.”

“No, it wasn’t just you, I wasn’t thinking clearly either. I didn’t even consider that Luke might take that the wrong way. I just hope Alex finds him quickly.”

“Yeah,” Reggie said glumly, pulling his flannel around himself tightly. He sat down in the chair that faced the doors. Julie sat down on the couch, all of her nerves and worries rising again. She wanted to hug Reggie, but when Alex and Luke could be back any moment, it seemed like a pretty bad idea. 

Suddenly Alex was back, gripping Luke’s arm tightly. Luke looked mutinous. 

“Oh thank god,” Julie said, letting out a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding.

“Ok, so what the hell is going on?” Alex asked.

“Well, uh. I’m not too sure,” Julie started. Luke’s mouth twisted and he looked down at the ground, trying unsuccessfully to pull his arm from Alex’s grasp. “I was talking to Reggie about… we were talking and then suddenly he touched me.”

“You said you loved me,” Reggie put in, unhelpfully. Julie resisted the urge to slap him upside the head.

“I was explaining that you guys love him and that you don’t think he’s an idiot.”

“He _is_ an idiot,” Luke muttered. Alex smacked him and Luke subsided, grumbling.

“But that might have been it!” Julie cried, jumping up. “I told him I loved him and he touched me.” She ran over to Alex and Luke. “I love you guys.”

She waited for a moment, suddenly worried she was wrong, and it had nothing to do with her words that allowed her to touch Reggie. She reached out with both hands tentatively, and touched Luke and Alex’s arms. She was touching them! She held their arms for a moment, then threw herself forward into their grasp. They both caught her automatically and held her tightly.

“Reggie,” she gasped out, hardly able to breathe with the boys’ crushing grip on her. Reggie slipped in between Alex and Julie, and she could finally breathe again as the circle widened.

“How is this even possible?” Alex asked.

“I have no idea,” Julie replied, laughing softly. 

“I can’t believe this.” Luke looked at them all, confused and hopeful. 

Julie squeezed them all again, reaching around Reggie to grip Alex’s shoulder. They were all so warm, and it seemed like the strangest part to her, because ghosts were meant to be cold, right? People in movies always shivered around ghosts. But to her it was like being bathed in warm sunlight, and every inch of contact heated her skin.

“So… you and Reggie…” Luke said after they just stood there for a while. 

“Oh, um.” Julie wished they could just skip this part and go straight to the point where Luke would kiss her. She really hoped Luke would kiss her. She looked at Reggie and Alex. Alex shrugged and Reggie looked like an animal caught in headlights. Not very helpful. But how was she supposed to explain what had happened between them if she didn’t mention Reggie’s crush? “Could I just talk to Reggie for a minute?”

Aex pulled Luke over to the couch and forced him down, and Julie slipped out of the garage with Reggie. “So, obviously you have to tell Luke how you feel, because I can’t tell him what happened without mentioning that.”

Reggie looked scared, and she didn’t blame him.

“How about we just forget about the kiss, and you can tell him it was nothing and that you really like him,” Reggie said, vaguely hysterical. 

“Reggie.” She grabbed his hands and tilted her head so she caught his eyes. “I don’t want to do that. I don’t know how Luke will react to you but I know that he loves you. Right now he’s just mad because he’s jealous, but soon he won’t need to be.”

“And what do we do if he rejects me. Do we forget about the kiss then?”

Julie’s stomach twisted. He had a point. She squeezed his hands and stepped in closer. "You're right, this could go badly. I don't know what he's going to say. But I don't regret kissing you and I want to do it again." 

Reggie looked torn, chewing on his lip again.

“Reggie.” Julie said quietly, rubbing her thumb over his hand just because she could. “What if he doesn’t?” 

Reggie looked like he was about to throw up, but nodded. “Okay.” 

She squeezed his hands, dropping one so she could walk back in beside him. 

The moment they came through the doors she could feel Luke’s eyes on their hands. He scowled and moved in his seat like he might stand but Alex had set himself up behind him and held him down with a hand on Luke’s shoulder. 

“Stop jumping to conclusions, idiot.” Luke huffed but stayed still. He looked again at their hands and then back up at Reggie. 

“So, you and Julie.” Julie wanted to roll her eyes internally, past her was an idiot for not seeing how into her Luke was.

“We kissed,” she said, because Reggie looked terrified and kind of like he had swallowed his tongue.

Three things happened very quickly. Luke tried to stand up, Alex cuffed him over the head and told him: “Shut up and listen.” and Reggie made a choked noise and tried to let go of her hand. 

Julie had almost been finding this whole thing funny but the crushed look on Reggie’s face was too far. 

“Enough.” She said firmly, gripping Reggie’s hand tighter and pinning Luke with a glare. 

“Firstly.” She pointed her finger intently at Luke. “We are not dating. You don’t get to be this mad when you’ve never said anything.” Luke looked crushed and dropped his gaze down to his hands and she felt a little bad about that but he needed to hear it. “However.” 

Luke’s eyes shot back up. 

“I like you.” She said and then elbowed Reggie who squeaked and looked at her, terrified. She raised her eyebrows pointedly and cut her eyes over to Luke. Reggie squeezed her hand even tighter.

“I like you, too.” 

Luke looked confused and while Julie’s focus was on him, she couldn’t help but notice the massive eye roll Alex gave the three of them. 

“What?” Luke asked unhelpfully, his eyes wide. Julie sighed. 

“I like you. And Reggie likes you. And we were wondering if you liked us too.” 

For a long minute all she could hear was Reggie’s quick breaths, Luke’s confused mutterings, and what she was sure was Alex’s muffled giggles. 

Finally Luke seemed to get his mouth working. 

“I like you, too.” 

She didn’t need to see Reggie to know the way his face looked. Boys. 

“Who, Luke?” She jerked her head towards Reggie and back to herself with a shrug. 

“Oh!” Alex let Luke up this time when he tried to stand. “Both of you.” 

Julie burst out into a grin and Luke mirrored her before his gaze also drew hers to Reggie. She realised his hand had gone slack in hers and he was staring at Luke with his mouth open and his face frozen. 

Julie let go of Reggie’s hand so Luke could grab both of them. 

“How did you not know?” He asked, holding Reggie’s hands close to his body, using them to pull him in closer. 

“Yeah.” Alex chimed in dryly. “It’s not like he basically molested you while singing the other day and put his kissed fingers to your lips.” 

Luke blushed. “I didn’t mean to be so obvious.” 

Reggie spluttered unintelligibly for a minute, and Julie grabbed his hand over Luke’s to try and calm him down.

"Also, I can't believe you kissed Reggie before you kissed me!" Luke turned to Julie, all mock outrage.

"It just happened!" Julie protested, rising to the bait despite herself. Luke smiled at her softly and took her other hand. She leaned into him unconsciously and he mirrored her, eyes on her mouth. She tilted her head up and he kissed her carefully, pressing their mouths together. His lips were soft and dry, and so warm against hers.

Reggie's cheeks were bright pink when they pulled apart, eyes dark as he watched them intently. 

“Anywayyyyyy.” Alex’s voice drew their eyes to where he was still standing, now a bit awkwardly, behind the couch. “There’s too much heterosexual kissing for me here. I’m going to see Willie.” Alex shook his head at them and popped out. Julie looked across at Reggie, confused. 

“He met a cute ghost skateboarder last week. Or at least Alex thinks he’s cute, I just know a lot about his hair.” Reggie shrugged and Julie laughed, pressing her lips against Luke’s cheek. 

As much as she wanted to kiss Luke again, she realised that she really wanted to see Luke and Reggie kiss, these two boys that she loved, with their pretty faces and even prettier mouths. She adjusted her grip on their hands and pulled them together in front of her. 

"Now kiss!" she commanded, laughing a little. Both Luke and Reggie looked at her weirdly. "Oh, it’s… I'll show you later."

Reggie laughed and looked down, avoiding Luke's face. Julie squeezed his hand and tugged him a little closer. “I can… wait outside or something, if you like,” she offered quietly. Luke looked sidelong at her, then smiled and reached out to touch Reggie’s face. The soft expression on his face made her heart flutter, even if he wasn’t looking at her. It clearly had the same effect on Reggie, his cheeks flaring red as he swallowed thickly. 

Luke leaned in slowly, taking his time, and Reggie must have gotten impatient because he surged forward, their mouths crashing together. They both dropped Julie’s hands at the same time to grab at each other, Luke cradling Reggie’s face in his hands to gentle the kiss, Reggie grasping at Luke’s arms, fingers digging in tight. Julie couldn’t take her eyes off the way they fitted together, their mouths open and hungry. Reggie bit at Luke’s lower lip, drawing a whimper out of him, before kissing him gently.

“Wow,” Julie murmured. They both looked at her and she blushed. “Sorry, that was just…” she clamped her mouth shut. Reggie laughed and snaked an arm around her waist to tug her in close. Luke laid his arm over Reggie’s and they stood like that for a long moment, just holding each other.

***

“My friends are all idiots,” Alex declared when he found Willie. Willie looked up from where he was rolling his skateboard to and fro and smiled sweetly. He raised an eyebrow.

“Hey, Alex.”

“Hi, Willie, my friends are idiots.”

Willie laughed. “And why are they idiots?”

“Well, Reggie has had a crush on Luke for, like, forever, and then we met Julie, who _also_ has a crush on Luke -”

“Hang on, didn’t you tell me you and Luke had a thing back when you were alive? I really need to meet this guy. What, is he made of catnip or something?”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Alex said sternly, then laughed. “He’s just really pretty, ok?”

“Oh, really?”

“But, uh… not as pretty as you,” Alex mumbled, hanging his head so his hair fell across his face. 

“What was that?” Willie asked, suddenly right in front of Alex. Alex peeked at him through his hair.

“I’m not saying it again.”

“So you think I’m pretty, huh?” Willie’s smile was bright and Alex’s heart was threatening to jump out of his chest. 

“As if you didn’t already know. I never said _I_ wasn’t an obvious idiot too.”

Willie laughed, throwing his head back, and Alex stared at the long line of his throat. 

“You _are_ very obvious,” Willie murmured, stepping right into Alex’s space. His face was serious now, deep brown eyes holding Alex’s. “Can I-?” His eyes dropped to Alex’s mouth. Alex nodded jerkily, forgetting how to breathe. Willie steadied himself with his hands on Alex’s arms and pushed up on his toes, kissing Alex softly. Alex dropped his hands to Willie’s hips and clung to him as Willie kissed him.

“Well, I for one am glad we all stopped being idiots.” Alex declared. Willie looked at him. “Other than you, of course. I mean-”

“Of course,” he murmured, and kissed Alex again, just because he could.

**Author's Note:**

> So it turns out I have more to say about this entire situation, because Yeoyou is an evil enabler, so there's more coming. At some point. 
> 
> I'm on [Tumblr](https://merihn.tumblr.com/) if anyone wants to come chat.


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